Assembled pile



J. E. CAHILL ASSEMBLED PILE March 13, 1934.

tsSheet 1 ll" March 13, 1934. J. c -n 1,951,292

Patented Mar. 13, 1934 I ASSEWLED FILE James E. Cahill, Chicago, 111.

Application April 18, 1929, Serial No. 356,009

8 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in piling and its purpose is to provide a built-up or assembled pile made up of a plurality of interlocking members to form an enclosure which may 3 be filled with plain or reinforced concrete or other filling if the structure is to serve as a pile or abutment or which may be left open if the structure is to serve as a caisson or coffer-dam. The principal object of the invention is to provide a structure made up of a plurality of interlocking sheet members forming an enclosure of general circular outline and having the enclosing wall reinforced on its inner side by upright members attached to certain of the interlocking members embodied in the wall. Another feature of the invention is the provision of an enclosing wall made up of interlocking sheet members having stiffening members attached to the inner sides thereof and having an inner wall formed by 010- sure members mounted between the ends of said stiffening members, thereby forming an inner enclosure surrounded by a double wall, which closure may be pumped dry and employed as a cofferdam or filled with concrete or other filling, if it is to serve as a pile. An advantage of this structure is that the parts thereof may be assembled in the desired position where they are to be driven to enclose an area of the required shape in a river or harbor, for example, after which they may all be driven into the river or harbor bed to a sufiicient extent to insure tight closures and thereby permit the structure to serve as a caisson or coffer-dam permitting workmen to carry onoperations therein. A further object is to provide an assembled pile or coffer-dam structure made up of a plurality of interlocking sheet piles of relatively small width so that the assembled 'pilesmay be driven to different depths depending on the contour of the rock bed engaged by their lowerends, thereby forming a substantially tight closure on a bottom of irregular contour. Other objects and advantages of the invention relate tovarious features of constriictionQar- I rangement and use, many of which will appear more fully hereinafter.

The nature of the invention will be understood from the. following specification taken with the accompanying drawings in which certain embodiments are illustrated. In the drawings,

Figure 1 shows a top plan view of a cylindrical pile made up according to the present invention and having alternate locking members of the pile reinforced by stiffening members;

Fig. 2 shows a side elevation of the structure illustratedin Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 shows a top plan view of a modified form of the invention adapted for use as a caisson or coffer-dam, and v Fig. 4 shows a side elevation of the structure illustrated in Fig. 3.

As illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2, the assembled pile 10 is made up of a plurality of sheet piles 11 which are preferably of arch-shaped crosssection having their webs 11 curved as shown at 11 and united with the hook members 11 and guard members 11 extending vertically along both edges of the sheet pile to interlock with corresponding parts formed on adjacent members. Adjacent sheet piles 11 are reversely arranged so that their arches are directed in opposite directions, thus imparting a somewhat zigzag formation to the general outline of the enclosing wall which is made up or a series of the interlocking sheet piles 11 which may be arranged in any suitable fashion but which are here shown as forming a circular enclosure. Those sheet piles 11 which have their arches directed inwardly are reinforced by stiffening members 12 in the form of I-beams having their outer flanges 12 attached to the webs of the sheet piles by rivets 13. The curved portions 11 of the reinforced sheet piles are connected with the web 12 of the reinforcing or stiffening member by means of the inclined brace plates 14 which are attached to the curved portions 11 and to the web of the stiffening member by rivets 15. This form of reinforcing sheet piling is described and claimed in my co-pending application Serial No. 369,560 filed June 10, 1929 which covers a, coffer-dam embodying said sheet piling. These stiffening members with the brace plates to which they are attached and the use of this bracing structure on alternate sheet piles imparts sumcient strength and stiffness to the structure of the assembled pile to enable it to be used as a supporting abutment or the like without danger of its becoming substantially displaced due to lateral pressure thereon.- When used as an abutment or the like, the cylindrical pile 10 pref erably has the interior chamber thereof filled with concrete 16 or other suitable material which gives. greater stability to the structure.

In Figs. 3 and 4 of the drawings there is illustrated the adaptation of the invention to the formation of a hollow structure 20 capable of use as a caisson or cofler-dam for certain classes of work. In this modified construction, an enclosure of circular or other desired crosssection is formed by a series of interlocking 14 may be readily driven with the sheet piles 11 sheet piles 21 preferably of arch-shaped crosssection having webs 21 connected at their ends with the curved portion 21 which are united with the. hook members 21 and the guard members 21 formed along the edges of the pile. This circular series of interlocking sheet piles is arranged with the arches of alternate piles directed inwardly and with the arches of the intervening piles directed outwardly. The sheet piles which have their arches bowed inwardly are reinforced,

on their inner sides by the I-beams 22 which are attached to the webs of the piles by rivets 23 and these I-beams are further connected to the curved portions 21* of the sheet piles by the inclined brace plates 24. These brace plates are attached to the piles by rivets 25 and are secured to the web 22 of the I-beams by rivets 26 which serve also to secure in place the vertically extending angle bars 27 having their flanges 27 extending parallel to the inner transversely extending flanges 22 of the I-beams 22, thus forming vertical channels 28 adapted to receive the lateral edges of vertically extending plates or closure members 29. These members 29 may preferably be formed of wood and upon being inserted in the guideways 28 they form a substantially circular inner wall 30 leaving a tubular enclosure 31 within them which may serve as a chamber for permitting workmen to operate below the surface of the water. Upon insertion of the members 29, a plurality of pockets 32 are formed between adjacent I-beams 22 and between the closure members 29 and the sheet piles 21 which are not reinforced. These pockets are preferably filled with mud or the like in order to insure against the leakage of water into the inner chamber 31. This form of structure may,

if desired, be assembled on the site of the work and then a suflicient portion of the lower ends of the members 21, 22 and 29 may be driven into the bed of the stream, as shown in Fig. 4, to secure the structure in place and to prevent the leakage of water inwardly at the bottom. Then after pumping out the water from the inher chamber 31, the structure is ready for use as a caisson or coffer-dam which is particularly adapted for use where the operations to be performedare not extensive and do not cover a large area.

The invention described above has numerous advantages in addition to those previously referred to, some of which are hereinafter mentioned. One of the important uses of the invention is in the formation of a caisson or cofierdam to be employed in putting down shafts, subpiers or wells or in connection with other work where a depressed or partially submerged water-tight enclosure is desired to permit work to be carried on therein. The present inventionmay be employed with particular advantage for forming relatively small enclosures, that is, enclosures having a diameter of from about four feet to twelve feet, or having an area of about ten square feet up to about two hundred square feet. In the formation of such enclosures, the separate sheet piles, preferably of comparatively small width, may be independently driven after being interlocked with each other so that all of them will reach and penetrate a hard bottom and form a tight closure even when the bottom is of irregular contour, while maintaining a tight closure throughout the height of the adjacent piles. The water may readily be pumped from such an enclosure and it will remain sufl'iciently dry for practical purposes without the necessity of employing interior bracing or the like for maintaining the wall against the pressure of the surrounding water or earth. The enclosing wall is well adapted to withstand inward pressure due to the fact that all portions thereof are preferably arranged to be outwardly convex. Where excavations are to be made in soft earth, either on land or under water, the use of the enclosing wall formed by the present invention results in a great saving in the amount of material which must be excavated because of the prevention of cave-ins around the area in which the work is actually to be performed. The invention is of particular advantage in permitting the sinking of shafts of relatively small cross-section for the purpose of permitting an inspection of the character of the earth and rock underlying the surface soil. When the enclosure formed by the interlocking sheet piling is filled with concrete or other suitable filling material, the structure may be employed as a pile or an abutment or for other purposes where a structure having great strength is desired.

- Although certain forms of the invention have been shown and described by way of illustration, it will be understood that the invention may be constructed in various other embodiments within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. An assembled'pile formed of a continuous series of interlocking sheet piles of arch-shaped cross-section's, said sheet piles being arranged with the arches of alternate sheet piles projecting inwardly, and vertically extending I-beams attached to the webs of each of said inwardly projecting sheet piles.

2. An assembled pile formed of a continuous series of interlocking sheet piles forming an enclosure, vertically extending I-beams attached to the webs of alternate sheet piles, vertically extending angle bars attached to the webs of said I-beams to form guideways adjacent the inner flanges of said I-beams, and vertical closure members engaging said guideways to form a substantially circular inner wall.

3. An assembled pile formed of a continuous series of interlockingsheet piles forming an enclosure, vertically extending I-beams attached to the webs of alternate sheet piles, vertically extending angle bars attached to the webs of said 125 I-beams to form guideways adjacent the inner flanges of said I-beams, vertical closure members engaging said guideways to form a substantantially circular inner wall, and sealing material filling the pockets between adjacent I-beams.

4. An assembled pile comprising a continuous series of sheet piles of arch-shaped cross-section arranged with the arches of alternate sheet piles directed inwardly, vertical I-beams having their flanges secured to the inwardly extending portions of said alternate sheet piles, and inclined brace plates attached to the webs of said I-beams and diverging outwardly with their outer edges secured to the sheet piles outwardly of said I-beams. 140

5. An assembled pile of continuous regular cross-sectional curvature formed of a continuous series ofinterlocking sheet piles, reenforcing members rigidly secured to certain of said sheet piles to extend vertically therewith, and inclined J48 brace members connected to the inner portions of said reenforcing members and having their outer portions secured to the respective piles to which such reenforcing members are attached.

6. Anassembled pile of continuous regular 150 cross-sectional curvature formed-of a continuous series -of interlocking sheet piles, integral reenforcing members rigidly secured to certain of series of interlocking sheet piles forming an enclosure, vertically extending beams attached to the webs of certain of said sheet piles and extending vertically therewith and radially inward therefrom, said beams being provided along their inner edges with channels, and vertical closure members directly engaging said channels and extending between the irmer portions of said beams to form a substantially circular inner wall.

8. An assembled pile formed of a continuous series of interlocking sheet piles of arch-shaped cross-section forming an enclosure, said sheet piles being arranged with the arches of alternate sheet piles projecting inwardly, a vertically extending beam secured to the arch of each 01 said beams which has its arch extending inwardly, and inclined brace members extending longitudinally of each of said beams on opposite sides thereof with one edge thereof secured to the adjacent beam and the other edge secured to the arch of the adiacent sheet pile.

JAMES E. CAI-IILL. 

